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Estonia to roll out free public transit nationwide

CityLab) Feargus O’Sullivan May 17, 2018 Meet the new world leader in fare-free living. It feels like the free public transit plans are coming like buses: You wait ages for one, then several come at once. Yesterday, I wrote about how Paris is looking into the possibility of abolishing fares on its metros and buses,… [Read More]

Estonia is already a world leader in free public transit: In 2013, all public transit in its capital, Tallinn, became free to local residents (but not tourists or other visitors, even those from other parts of the country). The new national free-ride scheme with extend this model even further, making all state-run bus travel in rural municipalities free and extending cost-free transit out from the capital into other regions.

The plan will not, however, extend Tallinn’s existing free public transit policies to other Estonian cities, and it also won’t make riding Tallinn transit free to visitors (at least, not initially). So while most of the country’s land area and population—which is overwhelmingly concentrated around Tallinn—should get fare-free daily lives, it’s not precisely the case that no Estonian will ever buy a bus ticket in their own country again.